The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for transferring commodities between different levels, especially for transferring at least partially finished packets containing arrays of articles of the tobacco processing industry from a first level where the packets or analogous accumulations of plain or filter cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos or other rod-shaped articles or products of the tobacco processing industry are supplied to a stationary transfer station, to a second level at which successively transferred articles are indexed about a fixed axis, e.g., about a vertical axis.
It is customary to assemble packets of cigarettes or other rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry (hereinafter simply referred to as cigarettes for short but with the understanding that analogous procedures can be resorted to in connection with the manipulation of filter cigarettes, plain or filter cigars, plain or filter cigarillos and/or any other rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry) while the cigarettes are being assembled into arrays (of, for example, twenty parallel cigarettes each) and are transported between a series of successive treating stations at which the making of the packets is carried out and completed. The making of packets can involve the delivery of one or more blanks from suitable source or sources of supply, draping the blanks around the arrays of rod-shaped articles, sealing the blanks, insertion of coupons or the like, the application of light-transmitting outer wrappers and, if necessary, additional procedures.
The advancement of arrays of cigarettes from treating station to treating station is determined by the nature of the transferring instrumentalities, by the nature of treatment at a particular station, and by the sensitivity of the articles forming the arrays and/or other parameters. It has been found that the transfer of arrays, with or without partially completed or finished packets, is often slowed down owing to the required direction and/or nature of transfer from a preceding station to the next-following station. This can result in the establishment of bottlenecks, i.e., in a slowing down of the operation of an entire production line, e.g., a production line including one or more cigarette makers, one or more makers of filter rod sections, one or more filter tipping machines wherein plain cigarettes are united with filter rod sections to form therewith filter cigarettes of unit length or multiple unit length, one or more packing machines wherein arrays of filter cigarettes are introduced into packets (e.g., into hinge lid packets), one or more cellophaning machines, one or more carton filling machines, and one or more carton crating and strapping machines. Even minor improvements in the rate of advancement of arrays of cigarettes, with partially completed or finished packets, can entail huge increases in the output of such production lines.
Certain types of presently known apparatus for transferring packets of rod-shaped smokers' products and/or analogous or similar commodities are disclosed, for example, in British patent specification No. 699,448 published Nov. 4, 1953, in German patent No. 42 25 062 C2 published Aug. 17, 1995, in German patent No. 1 013 482 published Jan. 23, 1958, in German Auslegeschrift No. 1 251 224 published Sep. 28, 1967, in German patent application No. 28 40 850 published Apr. 5, 1979, and in German patent application No. 37 39 579 A1 published Jun. 23, 1988.